


light up your wildest dreams

by orphan_account



Series: Prompts [7]
Category: IT (2017)
Genre: M/M, Mentions of homophobia, Prompt Fill, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 17:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17708882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Prompt: “You’re a store clerk and oh shit I just spotted my ex please let me hide behind your desk-thing” AU





	light up your wildest dreams

“You know, there’s a store way closer to your house, right?” Ben said, raising his brow at Richie as he assured them inside the dingy old corner store nearly three blocks away from the Tozier house. In the past month or so, Richie had started insisting that they make the walk to the further store rather than the quick trip to the one by his house. It didn’t matter if they were picking up simple snacks or a loaf of bread, Richie demanded they take a three block walk to get them.

Richie hummed, “You know I can’t understand you when you mumble like that.” Richie’s eyes had trailed over to the front counter and his entire face light up the moment his eyes landed on the cashier. It was a bambi-looking boy, with a soft swoop of brown hair and brown eyes. Just from behind the counter, he looked slender or short.

Ben sighed, a smile tugging at his lips. “Have we been taking these extra long walks so you can flirt with the cashier?”

Richie bounced on his feet, handing Ben his half of the shopping list and taking off at a run. “You really must stop mumbling! I can’t understand a word you’re saying!”

“I think it’s cute!” Ben cupped his hands and called his best friend. Richie had come out to them a few weeks earlier, in a tearful declaration of the feelings they’d realized had been building inside him for some time. He was still reluctant to talk about boys or crushes, aside from his usual unnecessary sexual comments. They occasionally included men now, but even that was rare. Richie coming down to this store, specifically because he found the cashier cute, and him being willing to bring Ben or Bev along was warming to Ben’s romantic heart.

Richie skipped over to the counter and leaned against it, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. The cute cashier-  _ Edward-  _ looked up at him and his cheeks grew slightly pink. “Can I… Can I help you?”

“I hope so,” Richie said lightly, waggling his eyebrows. “I am looking for something…. something important. Could you help me find it?”

“Yeah, of course,” Edward said helpfully, smiling politely. “What is it you’re looking for?”

Richie coughed slightly, rubbing the back of his hand across his mouth. He straightened up and reached out to scratch the back of his neck. “I uh… I’m looking for a more effective way to flirt with the cute cashier since clearly, I’m terrible at it. Which is a shock to me, because I’m usually great at everything. Well… maybe not everything, I really struggle with math… and most sciences… I’m probably dyslexic but I definitely have ADHD and  _ apparently,  _ I have a bad habit of blurting out my entire life story to random cute strangers when I get nervous.”

Edward, the Cute Cashier, watched Richie’s spiral and a small smile slowly stretched across his face. “Take a breath. I think your face is about three seconds away from turning blue.”

Richie inhaled then exhaled hard, giving Edward a small nervous smile. “Sorry. You’d think I’d never flirted with somebody before, which is very much not true, I usually flirt with everybody at least a little so I don’t know what my problem is. Brain damage, I guess, my friend Bill always jokes that I have some.”

Edward started shaking his head, still smiling at Richie. “First time flirting with somebody since coming out? I’d say been there but I haven’t really, not much of a flirter. I really have no idea how.”

“Flirt with me!” Richie said excitedly. “You could get some practice in, and I bet you’re a natural so I could learn a thing or two from you.”  Edward let out an honest-to-god giggle and Richie’s heart jumped, only to quickly be crushed by a familiar nasally laugh coming from the opening door. Frantically, Richie looked at Edward with wide eyes. “Oh,  _ shit.” _

Edward clearly recognized the genuine distress in Richie’s voice, because his eyes went wide. He glanced around the store, “What’s wrong?”

“That’s my ex,” Richie stage whispered, watching Sandy and her usual group of giggly girls making their way through the store. Before even realizing how cute the little Bambi-eyed cashier here was, Richie had started going to this store simply out of the assurance that he’d never run into Sandy here. If the store was far away from Richie’s house, it was completely and utterly out of the way of hers.

“We dated for two years,” Richie continued, giving Edward more information despite the complete lack of him asking for it. “She broke up with me when I came out to her as bisexual. Seemed to think that meant I was using her as a beard, or some fucking shit, I don’t know. Fuck, fuck, she’s coming over here! Can I… I need to hide.”

There was a small, determined line between Edward’s brows and he nodded once. “Okay, come here. Get under the counter.”

Richie’s eyes flew wide. “Is that… Is that allowed?”  Edward shrugged once with a small eye roll, and Richie jumped over the counter. He ducked down and huddled under Edward’s knees, pulling himself into the most compact position he could get into, with his height.

“Hi!” Edward said cheerfully from above him. “How are you today?” Richie could hear Sandy giving a muttering answer and rolled his eyes. Sandy’s lack of respect towards people working in customer service had been something that had bothered Richie even when they’d been together, and he knew it should have been some sort of sign for him. Sandy disrespected anybody she saw as under her, but Richie had been a lovesick teenager and he liked to excuse his own stupidity whenever he could.

“You saw that fat kid, right?” Sandy was saying to one of her friends as Edward wordlessly checked them out. Richie clenched his jaw under the counter. “Ugh, I wonder if that means Tozier is here. It  _ would  _ be just my luck to run into that fag-“

“This is a public building,” Edward cut across her, voice cold as ice. “People of all race and sexuality are allowed to buy shitty energy drinks and chocolate bars here. We don’t accept that kind of language here. Either watch your mouth, or get your junk food somewhere else.”

Richie clapped a hand over his mouth, grinning wildly at the stunned silence above him. He heard one of Sandy’s friends muttering something about eavesdropping, but it was Sandy’s response that Richie was listening for. “You’re just going to turn us away?  _ Paying customers.  _ What? You think this hole in the world store can survive without  _ customers?” _

Edward must have swiped Sandy’s purchases off the belt, because they were suddenly dropping down in Richie’s lap and on his head. “I think we can survive without serving a couple of bigots. And if I get fired, well that’s fine, too. It’s my human right to refuse service to people who make me uncomfortable- and hate speech isn’t welcome here. Please leave.”

More ringing silence, while Richie palmed at a Snickers bar and wondered if he could open it without being heard. “Damn,” Sandy finally said with a disgusted voice. “Last time we come down here then. Jesus Christ.”

“Yeah…” Edward said slowly, and Richie could practically see him rolling his eyes. “That was the idea.”

Richie sat there, gaped mouth, until Edward sighed above him. “You can come out now.”

Richie popped up and grinned. “I already came out. That’s how this trouble all started.”

Edward made a disgusted noise but his cheeks were a soft pink. “She’s terrible. I feel like I should stay away from you simply because you went out with her.”

Richie dropped down to his knees once more, and wrapped his arms around Edward’s legs. “No! Eds, my  _ love!  _ You can’t betray me in such a fashion!” He cried. “Can’t a man make a mistake? Give him the chance to learn!”

“Don’t call me Eds, it’s Eddie- and date better people, then maybe I will,” Eddie said, but he was laughing and knocking Richie’s head away. Richie stood slowly and stepped in Eddie’s personal space, loving how his eyes went wide.

“Are you better people?”

Eddie’s cheeks went a deep pink and he spluttered for a moment. “ I…!! Anybody is better people, I didn’t mean-“

Richie started cackling before getting interrupted with Ben dropping his hands onto the counter. Richie and Eddie both turned toward him, Eddie looking embarrassed and Richie looking more than a little joyous. “Richie, I am trying to let you have your flirt time but you dragged me here down like three blocks to come here for snacks and then ditched me. I was promised snacks, and I told Bev-“

“Alright, alright,” Richie laughed. “Keep your pants on, Haystack, we’re getting snacks!” He turned and smiled at Eddie. “I’ll be seeing you around, cute stuff!”

Eddie Kaspbrak rolled his eyes, still blushing. “Oh, I don’t doubt that.”

 


End file.
